


Teach Him To Love

by Snarkyowl



Series: Gangs au [2]
Category: Markiplier Egos
Genre: Gangs AU, M/M, not explicit violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 10:15:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12319005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarkyowl/pseuds/Snarkyowl
Summary: The relationship of Host, Dark, and the doctor.





	Teach Him To Love

“Come on Dark! I really want you to meet him!” Mark calls, a few paces ahead of his younger brother.

Dark coughs, still a bit sick, as he chases after his sibling.

“Mark I can’t run this much, mama and the doctors said-”  
“Screw what they say! Come on Darkie!” Mark laughs, picking up the pace.

Dark coughs again and runs faster to keep up, still trying to whine in between breaths. Finally they reach the little area Mark was trying to lead them to, and Dark gets to collapse. He gasps and coughs, and Mark starts to get worried. Maybe he really shouldn’t have made his little brother run so much.

Author appears with his usual satchel, but frowns at the sight of some new pathetic whelp with Mark. He steps cautiously closer as Mark helps the boy up, and then realizes with a start that the kid looks almost identical to Mark. Just a lot more pathetic.

“Author! Hey!” Mark greets with his usual friendly cheeriness about him.

Author smiles back awkwardly before looking back to the new kid.

“So uh, who’s this, Mark?”  
“I’m Dark.” The kid says, and Author is floored by how gorgeous his eyes are.

They’re like Mark’s in shape, but the color is so much darker and holds so much more… potential. Mark is a man of potential, and Author believe that. However, the look in Dark’s eyes is something more than that. Where Mark is only ambitious, Dark has a greed about him as well as a stalwart determination that Mark doesn’t quite carry. Author wonders where that will lead him.

“Author. It’s nice to meet you.” Author says, smiling politely and offering his hand.

Dark stares his hand down before nodding to himself and shaking Author’s hand. Dark’s hand is bony and cold, and Author wonders if he’s always cold like this.

Mark and Author spend the day showing Dark around, and Author learns very quickly that Dark knows very little and yet very much. He’s awkward with social situations despite carrying a cool countenance, and Author wonders why Dark feels he has to always look unshakeable.

Mark seems more than happy to finally have his brother with him on their adventures, and his excitement eventually passes to the other two boys with him. Dark slowly becomes more talkative and asks more questions to the point Author laughs every time he asks a new one, but it’s only a laugh of friendly amusement.

They meet a kind man that sells them each an ice cream cone for very little, his smile is all too knowing and Author appreciates the kindness of someone who understand when kids can’t afford to have delights like this.

Dark is fascinated by the ice cream, and Author has to remind himself that Dark was kept inside for years because he becomes ill very easily. He wonders why his parents are suddenly letting him out, but it doesn’t take long for him to get his answer.

“They think he’s going to die.” Mark says softly, watching his brother nap in the sun.

“Why would-”  
“The doctor’s said he’s just in poor health. That he won’t ever get any stronger. He sleeps a lot and gets sick even more, they don’t think he has a chance.”  
“Have they told him this?” Author asks, watching the sad eyes of his friend trail around the small clearing.

“Not to his face, mom wouldn’t allow it. He heard them, though.”  
“So they’re freeing him only because they think he’s going to die?”  
“Might as well let him die happy.” Mark mutters, and Author frowns.

“Bullshit.” He decides, and Mark chuckles softly.

“You’re telling me.”

-

When Dark turns fifteen, Author takes him to the fair. Despite it all, Dark is still kicking. He still has a tendency for getting sick, but damn if he doesn’t do an impressive job of pushing through. His parents still won’t let him attend school because they’re worried he’ll be bullied over the fact he can’t write well because he didn’t start learning to write until he was 10.

Dark perseveres with his brother and Author by his sides, and Author couldn’t be more proud of him. He’s come a long way from the stick of an eleven year old that Author met four years ago. He’s still not the best in ways of physical build, but he’s getting there.

Dark is intimidated by the sheer amount of people, and Author realizes that even with his four years of “freedom,” Dark has continued to live a rather… sheltered life. With a determined huff, Author decides he’s going to start taking Dark out more. Mark has been so busy lately with work and school, but Author doesn’t bother with either of those things so it works out.

“Author?” Dark asks, pulling Author from the long halls of his mind and back to this one present moment.

“Dark?” Author questions softly, looking back to his friend.

The younger boy is dressed (adorably) in a white button down, some nice looking pants, suspenders, and to Author’s amusement Mark apparently put him in a bow-tie. Compared to Author in his simple flannel and jeans, Dark looks rather fancy.

“I don’t… Like this.” Dark seems hesitant to admit it, and Author smiles comfortingly.

“Of course you don’t, Darkipoo, you’ve never been somewhere like this before. Now c’mon, don’t worry about it. I’m here for you.” Author soothes, offering his hand out.

Dark takes it, and they head off into the fair.

Dark looks around in quiet fascination at everything, occasionally gripping tightly to Author’s hand when something startles him. They go on rides, though it takes a lot of convincing to get Dark onto them, and they eat food. Author finds a petting zoo and feels his heart melt when he sees Dark just enjoying the animals because he never really gets to do that.

When Dark looks up at him, a duck in his lap and a lamb nibbling his hair, and laughs? Author can’t do anything but laugh too because the sight makes him forget about that shadowy glint of greed that seems to haunt Dark’s eyes.

Dark seems almost angelic among the animals, Author is sorry when he has to tell him it’s time to go. Thankfully Dark isn’t horribly crushed, says goodbye in a gentle voice Author feels belongs more with human children and mothers than a fifteen year old boy and a grumpy old duck, but that’s Dark for you.

Undeterred by having to leave his animal companions, Dark practically skips along at Author’s side as they head home. For a fifteen year old, Dark is certainly excited about this all. Author is glad.

He deserves excitement.

They have dinner in Author’s favorite little diner in his favorite booth. Dark takes the time to unwind after all of his excitement, though he quietly talks Author’s ear off about everything and how grateful he is that Author took him. Author smiles through most of it, though the smile falls as he focuses on his food.

As they go different ways to get to their own different homes, Author wonders how many more innocent moments he can pull out of Dark before the boy gives in to his own pride. Not long, Author sighs.

Not long.

-

“Author! Author-!”

Sirens and sound, it’s all flashing and it’s all too bright. They’re trying to question him but he can’t think beyond the blood and the screaming and the eyes and oh god no they’re taking him away he can’t be taken away Dark needs him-

Dark sits in silence, eyes glossed over and haunted. His unwavering gaze is locked on one specific spot on the floor, his hands tightly gripping the opposite arm. Around him, the officers and workers give him sympathetic glances, curious glances, disappointed glances, and a few have been judgemental.

He ignores them all because what does it matter? They won’t do anything to him.

Mark is furious when he comes to pick Dark up, but his anger melts like icy when he sees his sibling. His baby brother, only 18, has just seen things no one that young should have to see.

“Dark?” Mark asks, and he keeps his tone low as he crouches down to try and catch his younger brother’s eyes.

Dark is too far gone, though; at least for the moment. His eyes search for something that isn’t there, and he feels sick when everything really settles.

Author’s body lay broken and beaten on the ground, no longer making any sound as fists and feet slammed into it. No longer flinching when the bat swung down directly into the rib-cage. No, Author was still and Dark screamed because that usually meant someone had died and Author wasn’t allowed to. He couldn’t die. Dark needed Author because Author grounded him, kept him sane on the days he wanted to rip out his own throat in place of living anymore.

Author made him want to live, and if he died what was that supposed to mean to Dark? “You should die too.” A voice whispers in his head, and he realizes that yes, that’s the obvious answer.

If Author goes, he’ll go too. He’d stay for Mark if he thought his brother wouldn’t make it without him, but he knows well and good Mark is going to be fine. Mark is stronger than that.

Author is alive, Mark has said by now, but he’s broken. Broken and it’s all Dark’s fault. All his.

He feels sick but he doesn’t let himself get sick because Mark is in front of him and people are watching them like hungry vultures. They’re waiting for him to break because if he does that they’ll think they’ve won some unspoken battle. They’ll think he’ll quit the path he’s begun to walk down.

No.

Dark has seen things tonight that will haunt him for years to come, and when another mistake of his leads to Author’s suffering he’ll blame himself then. He’ll think of this and laugh hollowly as he downs another glass of whiskey. He’ll know that this, this one night of broken bones, bloody gashes, and bruises was nothing compared to what was to come.

But in the moment, in the night that it happens, Dark remains silent. He holds himself because he can’t let anyone else hold him, not after he let his friend nearly die for the sake of his own wants. He holds himself because he doesn’t deserve to have someone else do it. Mark tries, but like a cat that doesn’t want to be pet Dark slinks away from under his brother’s arm and keeps walking.

Mark looks hurt, but Dark knows that he understands what’s going on in Dark’s head. Dark thinks he doesn’t deserve to be loved right now, and when Dark thinks something it’s near-impossible to convince him of anything else, so Mark doesn’t try.

That’s okay.

It’s okay not to try because Dark really doesn’t want him to.

And later, when Dark is in a better mental state, he’ll tell Mark that. He’ll tell Mark he’s grateful that Mark didn’t push.

When they visit Author in the hospital Dark will stand as far from the bed while still being close as he can, he’ll hold himself again and as they’re leaving his eyes will take up that glossy appearance. The hundred yard stare will return and Dark will lapse back into stony silence because for Dark silence is more comforting than sound because sound means that things are happening. That the world is spinning. In silence, Dark can breathe. He can take a break.

Silence holds him while noise shakes him, and if no one else is allowed to hold him silence can because silence won’t whisper everything he’s done wrong in his ear. She’ll hold him, and she won’t say a word.

-

Author settles down beside Dark with a beer, and listens to what Dark has to say.

A gang, evidently. It’s an insane idea, but Author knows Dark has mulled over this for ages. Years maybe, from the fact the tattoo idea is ridiculous.

Dark admits to meeting a man named Wilford, and the mustache had been his idea.  
“Alternatively,” Dark says a bit miserably, “we could have glasses. Or a box.”  
“A… box?” Author questions, and Dark snorts.

“It- there’s a long story. I’m holding off on that one.”  
“So a mustache and some glasses? Sounds dumb.”  
“You should hear what Brody’s little minions wear.” Dark grunts, drinking idly from his beer.

Author frowns, tilting his head to try and make Dark look at him. He won’t.

“Chase started a gang?”  
“Joined and managed to take it over.”  
“Huh. What’s his wife think?”  
“She doesn’t, for now, know he’s in one.” Dark mutters darkly, finishing his beer with eerie speed.

Author worries for him, wonders if he drinks frequently and if he does Author wants to know why. He doesn’t ask, but he still wants to know.

“That won’t end well.”  
“It won’t.” Dark agrees softly, setting the empty bottle down.

They slip into easy silence, just breathing. Author shuts his eyes and rests his head back on the wall behind him, mulling over Dark’s proposition for a while. Finally, he sits forward and looks to Dark. This time, Dark meets his eyes.

“What did Mark think about this gang idea?” Author questions, and Dark grimaces.

“He said to ask you seeing as you’re the… Wisest of the three of us. Which I disagree with because I clearly remember you thinking that setting a pool on fire would both work and be a good idea.” Dark states, smirking as Author groans.

“I was drunk Dark, cut me some slack.”  
“You know I’m not going to.”  
“It was worth a shot.” Author huffs, lips quirking into a smile at the sound of a low chuckle from Dark.

“You’re a fucking dumbass, Author, and you know it.”  
“Well apparently Mark doesn’t, so you shut up.” Author says, stabbing Dark in the side with his finger.

Dark squawks, and Author laughs.

“I think a gang would be fun.” Author decides, and Dark’s eyes light up.

“Great. I’ll call Wilford and Mark in the morning.”  
“Have anyone else joining?”  
“A few candidates.” Dark nods, then shrugs.  
“But we’ll have to see.”

-

Dark, with time, goes from awkward and stiff to cold and professional. In places his voice used to only be cold, it now comes out feeling like ice. Author feels he’s turned into a completely different man from the one he thought he knew, and he knows why. Envy, greed, and pride overrule most decisions Dark tends to make. He makes every decision with his own best interest in mind, but that’s okay.

They’re all in a position where he can afford to do that.

Still, Author wonders how much of their lives will change because of this.

The gang is still small, mostly, but it’s turned into something Author can rely on. The Ipliers are already notorious in their side of the town, and Dark’s will to get things done well and fast has spread into rumors that he’s a ruthless killer.

Author wishes they were further away from the truth.

Dark doesn’t kill frequently, nor does he do it for any kind of enjoyment. He does kill, though, and he does it with such unflinching ease Author dearly misses the fifteen year old that would sit and baa at a lamb because he thought it was cute.

Author stays by his side anyways, and so does Mark. They’re all in this together, that won’t ever change.

Some things, though, will change.

Author meets a man named Edward and he immediately hates him. The man is a bleeding heart doctor that works at some poor clinic, but he still carries himself with utter confidence and looks constantly as though he thinks he’s better than everyone else.

The doctor offers to help Author when he sees him limping one day, and Author tells him to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. The doctor laughs, and hands him a number.

“Well Mr. Tough, if you ever do need help just call.” The doctor says, and then he’s gone.

Despite what his mind says to do, Author tucks the number away for later use.

Maybe, at a later date, the doctor can make himself useful.

-

Dark has gotten them into a bad situation, and Author knows this is going to be a bad one. One that Dark can’t charm his way out of, and one they might die in.

Dark keeps Author behind him as long as he can before he’s pulled into a brawl.

Author loses sight of Dark in a circling mass of bodies that pick and tear at Dark like a pack of hyenas, laughing and taunting as they go.

Author is similarly surrounded, and the torture begins.

-

When he wakes, there is silence. There is darkness.

He breathes in, confirms that his hearing is not gone, and then screams.

The pain he feels cannot be properly described in words, though it’s similar to having fire pressed deeply into your eyes. A throbbing, horrible pain where his eyes are. Should be.

Author screams for all he’s worth because the pain is too much.

Dark is nearby, Author knows he has to be. When the pain ebbs to a point Author can take it, he takes to crawling and searching.

Everything hurts, he’s going to go into some kind of shock he knows, but he wants to find Dark first. Has to find him first.

Dark’s hand finds his, but Dark doesn’t seem aware of anything at all. Author says his name, and Dark only slurs something back at him.

Author collapses next to him, and lets himself fade away from the pain again.

-

The next time he wakes, he calls himself the Host and finds the way he communicates has altered itself completely without his permission. He narrates more than he speaks, and he has to wonder if there’s a real reason for that.

There is. His mind whispers softly. It makes you feel in control.

And ah yes, of course. He’s all about control. Losing his sight is catastrophic to him, or should be, so he narrates to feel as though the situation is his to control.

He processes a soft voice talking to him, and realizes with a jolt that’s a familiar voice, and not one of the nurses he’s spoken with since waking up. The doctor. The fucking doctor.

“Author?”

“The… The Host would like to be called… Host.” He says softly, and he can see the doctor nodding.

Well he can’t see it, but he imagines it so.

“Alright, Host. How do you feel? Is the pain in your eyes any better?”

“The pain in Host’s eyes is manageable.” Host murmurs, nodding lightly.

He can imagine the doctor smiles, somewhat sadly, as he feels a hand rest on his shoulder.

“Mark has been swinging by, but-”  
“Dark?” Edward pauses, and Host, for a moment, fears that he’s going to say Dark is dead.

“From what I’ve heard from Mark, Dark hasn’t been doing well. He’s healing okay, but he’s…” The doctor trails off, and Host frowns.

“He is…?” He questions, and Edward sighs.

“It doesn’t feel right for you to hear it from me, Host. Mark will come by soon, so you can ask him, yeah?”

“That will… Suffice.” Host murmurs, worry tugging incessantly at his belly.

When he asks Mark for the answers the doctor wouldn’t provide, Mark lets out a heavy sigh.

“Dark’s drinking himself into oblivion, Host. He’s… He’s not doing good.” Mark admits softly.

“He keeps having nightmares that he has to scream himself awake from, and I don’t- I think he’s hurting himself Host but I can’t check. He won’t let me.” Mark murmurs, and Host can hear the exhaustion that pulls at Mark likes a persistent child.

“Mark is tired and suffering just as much as Dark and Host. He should rest.” Host says, and Mark chuckles lifelessly.

“Yeah, of course, rest.” He mutters, and Host’s heart aches.

“Host, would you want to see him?”  
“Dark?”  
“Yeah.” The Host pauses to consider it.

“Why would the Host not?”  
“Because it’s his fault you’re like this.” Mark says, but Host knows this isn’t Mark blaming Dark.

This is Mark telling Host where Dark is, mentally.

“The Host is worried for his friend,” Host says firmly, “he wishes to hear from him at the very least.”

-

Dark plays at being alright when he visits, and Host doesn’t press him. Dark has a heavy limp and has to pause to breathe if he talks too long. Once hand is covered in cloth bandages, and according to Dark he can’t see for shit out of his left eye.

“It’s only temporary.” He adds, and Host senses the bitterness there.

Host never mentions the self blame and deprecation, instead he only has Dark talk about what’s going on with the other Ipliers.

“They’re dead.” Dark says suddenly, and Host frowns.

“The-”  
“No. The people who hurt you.” Dark clarifies, and Host’s heart stutters.

Dead already?

“Wilford killed them all after I found their base.” Dark says, and his voice sounds so tired and haunted Host wishes he could see him.

Comfort him.

-

Things between Dark and Host aren’t the same once they’re both back in action. They don’t talk as much, but when they do it’s mostly like it used to be. Dark doesn’t joke anymore, though. He’s lost any kind of light heartedness he had left. Host wishes he could change that, but there isn’t a thing he can do about it.

Instead, Host spends the time he used to spend with Dark with the doctor. Edward, he finds, isn’t actually unbearably overconfident once you worm your way into his heart. He’s a sweetheart, and definitely a pushover. He’s kindhearted, and Host is mostly certain he would drop everything to save a kitten.

Hell, Edward would drop everything to save a cactus.

Host adores him, and seeing as Mark keeps himself busier than ever these days, Host tells Dark about his affections.

Dark always listens and as time goes Host hears things in his tone he thought he’d never hear again. Exasperation and amusement, a teasing tone used to prod at Host and make him blush over a crush.

He can’t see the sadness in Dark’s eyes, nor the fact that his friend is never really smiling. Dark is an actor, and pretending to be happy for Host was easier than counting to three because he just had to affect how he sounded.

Not how he looked.

-

Soon, Dark finds himself going out with Host to find an engagement ring. He hides his pain with a cold countenance, but lets his voice stay warm for Host’s sake. Host is buzzing with excitement and anxiety, he’ll stay better if he doesn’t know what Dark has going on right now.

Dark has fallen for the doctor as well, and he can’t begin to believe how cruel the universe is to him.

Still, he picks out a ring and describes it to Host in painfully vivid detail. Host says Edward should love it, jokes that Dark knows his soon to be fiance better than he does. Dark laughs, but it’s a little too hollow.

Host doesn’t comment as he purchases the ring, and thanks the cashier politely.

Dark counts to ten, and then follows along behind him.

-

Edward meets Dark properly and not just for medical reasons on the tenth of October. Dark is with Host, half asleep against him really, and Edward had been expecting Host alone.

Dark drowsily greets the doctor, and Edward has to laugh.

“Not very intimidating when you’re half asleep, I have to say.” Edward teases him like they’re longtime friends, and Dark startles himself by chuckling.

“You’ve caught me in an undignified moment.” Dark says, and Edward snorts.

“You’re telling me.”

Host smiles, small and pleased, as the two people nearest and dearest to him banter. When they both quiet down on either side of him, Dark still tucked close and Edward simply leaning lightly on him, Host lets his smile get bigger.

This is nice.

-

The first time one of them kisses Dark, it’s surprisingly not Host. Instead, Edward grabs Dark by the face and plants a kiss firmly on his lips.

Host and Dark are both so startled neither of them can say anything for a full five minutes as they try to process.

“You’re both slower than a pair of steamrollers.” Edward sighs, settling himself in Dark’s lap as though he belongs there.  
And maybe he does.


End file.
